Angelina's Choice

Angelina Jolie made a courageous, desperate choice to prolong her life and women all over the world admire her for it.  My beloved mother died of breast cancer at 36 so I took the test not knowing what I would do if it came back positive for the gene.  Luckily in my case it didn't.  Mom didn't have the gene but she got breast cancer anyway due to stress and other causes.  That set my mind at ease and I was able to breathe a big sign of relief.  It took courage for me to do the test knowing that if I was found to be positive for the gene, my peace of mind would  be permanently destroyed.  Would I have done what Angelina did?  I really don't know.  I took the test not knowing and only certain that I had to find out no matter what.  I hate mutilation of any kind, you see?  And I still view this barbaric operation as mutilation.  Angelina also has to undergo a complete hysterectomy now as well, to make sure she doesn't get ovarian cancer like her mother.  She seems to be at peace with her choice and we all wish her a long and happy life.   Yet cancer is such a capricious and insidious disease, she might have never gotten cancer to begin with, even with her 85% risk.  I had a friend who had no cancer in the family at all and shortly about boasting to me about it, she developed a very aggressive type of breast cancer.  She doesn't have the gene, her children don't have the gene, and yet she got it anyway.  I know that Angelina's choice is going to send thousands if  not millions of women to the surgeons all over the world, but I've read that cancer could still grow in the wall of the chest, so one has to be fatalistic about this dreadful disease and not get too crazy.  That said, I still admire her enormously for her bravery in confronting this issue head on and for her willingness to share it with us.  That couldn't have been easy for such a beautiful woman, who is also one of our greatest sex symbols.  Yet she has proven time and time again, that she's also a woman of substance.  I hope she saves many lives with her choice and I  hope she lives a long life.  I've always admired her as an actress and as a person, but perhaps never more than now.

BLOOD BROTHERS AND MONSTERS. MAY THEY BURN IN HELL.

Adios Sarita

What can we say about Sara Montiel?  That she was a marvelous singer and dancer?  That she exuded sensuality and beauty?  That she was the Elizabeth Taylor of Europe?  Well, she was that and much  more.  I grew up loving her and loving her movies.  Yet her life was more dramatic and sensational than any of them.  And that voice of hers, sultry, smoky and slow, made us dream, made us want to grow up quickly and experience all those marvelous feelings she conveyed so well on the screen.  I know she made movies in America but her impact was a lot greater in Europe and South America.  I think most baby boomers who grew up with her are in mourning at the recent news of her death.  Yet she may have died physically but she certainly belongs to the short list of immortals of the world.  Who can forget that glamorous beauty that made us dream when we were adolescents?  Who can forget "El Ultimo Cuple," "La Violetera" "Carmen La De Ronda" and so many others?  Her movies were great and what made them great was her presence, that dramatic, smouldering presence, with a voice and beauty to match it.  She was intense and passionate and it showed in everything she did.  "Reach for the Stars," she seemed to be telling us with every gesture, every movement of her hands.  "And don't be afraid to love, to suffer, to live intensely."  We did but never as intensely as she did.  My favorite image of her is the gorgeous flower girl singing right into the blue, blue eyes of Ralph Vallone in "La Violetera."  Another is that of the passionate, melancholic beauty in the red dress singing "Mi Hombre" a song that she owned as completely as Barbara Streisand did with "People."  So farewell and thanks for making us dream, for waking us up to life Sarita, we shall not forget you.

Valerie's Finest Hour

I hope everybody watched or taped Valerie Harper's full hour on the doctor's today.  To say that she was simply magnificent would be an understatement.  What a courageous, graceful woman.  I'd always enjoyed her in the show but my admiration for her grew tenfold after watching that poignant segment.  She could have chosen to cry rivers alone in her house but she decided to face her illness head on, turning the devastating diagnosis into a celebration of her life.  Kudos to her and her husband for sharing this painful moment with us.  By bringing this kind of cancer into focus, she's helping a lot of people in more ways than one.  There might be some out there with the same symptoms who simply ignore them or think they're typical of old age.  And others who are too afraid to find out the truth until it's too late.  Valerie, by demystifing the almost always present pathological fear of death, is teaching us to die gracefully.  Cheerful, smiling, her body posture told us , "Hey I want to live longer, just like everyone else, but if that's not possible, I've lived my life and I'm grateful for the blessings I've enjoyed and the years I've been given."  I watched the show with tears in my eyes and hope and pray a miracle happens for this marvelous lady who so richly deserves it, but if that's not possible, I'll always remember her parting words, "Live in the moment, embrace yourself and forgive others."

Toltoy's Masterpiece

Toltoy's masterpiece is beautifully brought to life here on this visually arresting movie which should have been a big smash and oddy wasn't.  I loved the movie and performances.  I saw many adaptations of Anna Karenina (including masterpiece theater, which was still the best), but you can not compare one to the other, and this is also a fine work of art, but with a different vision, at times tragic, at times comical but always compelling.  Keira was great in the leading role and she stole the show in my opinion.  Her lover was handsome and seductive, and her deceived husband was expertly played by Jude Law who is usually the seducer himself and must have found the role quite a stretch.  I don't know what critics want and why they were lukewarm about this beautiful film, but I do know good when I see it and this film was good.

Reeva's Tragedy

A beautiful woman, a raging maniac and an unbelievable killing.  Fiction of the best kind?  Unfortunately not.  It's the true story of this gorgeous woman whose only mistake in life was to fall in love with a killer.  And to add insult to injury he would now have us believe that he mistook her for a burglar, that he was so paranoid he assumed the intruder was cowering in terror in the bathroom, in the shape of a beautiful woman he had just beaten and terrorized.  Yeah, sure, tell us another one Oscar and see if we swallow it.  My take on this is that he was out of control for a long time, and in a jealous rage began assaulting her, she ran to the bathroom in total panic and locked the door.  He decided to teach her a lesson she'd never forget and began firing at her through the bathroom door, hitting the helpless, terrorized woman three times.  I think this man, this so called hero for the handicapped, was a walking time bomb.  He was full of drugs and hatred, and never came to terms with his disability.  If he was so paranoid about burglars (the so called crime wave in Johannesburg) why didn't he install a great security system?  He was loaded, he could have afforded the best and yet he did nothing except sleep with a gun under his bed or whetever the heck he put it.  The evidence against him is so overwhelming, his lawyers had no choice but to cook up this cockamanny story.  He should go to jail for the rest of his life, this coward, who can't even own up like a man to what he really did to this tragic beauty.

New York Mourns a Piece of its Soul

We lost Ed Koch yesterday, and the city he adored and gave so much to, is in deep mourning today, because nobody symbolized the spirit of the great Apple more than the irrepressible, feisty, outrageous and controversial, Ed Koch.  He was the city in all its essense, great, tough, hard working, ambitious and daring.  He was an icon, our icon, this funny, opinionated man who pulled us from the fiscal abyss once, and showed us that first and foremost, we were New Yorkers and we could overcome anything.  Love him or hate him, despise him or admire him, he was unique, a real original; and we had grown accustomed so seeing his funny face everywhere, this omnipresent man who made himself a part of our lives for so many years.  By living for so long and by enjoying his life so completely, he gave us a sense of continuity, almost of immortality.  We watched him age and grow physically frailer, but the sharp intellect, irrelevance and feistiness continued.  Like our city, he aged on his feet, falling and getting up again with iron will and defiance.  And now he's gone, making his exit from this world almost on cue (in typical Koch fashion) by leaving us just as the documentary about his life and legacy was about to be shown, .  We're now taking full measure of the man and the tributes will be many, but his greatest gift to us will always be the joy and pride he took in the city and its people.  "How am I doing?" was his trademark and the response will always be "Great Ed, you're doing great."